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‘Marietta’ – naughty but nice
Friday, Aug. 3, 2007
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by Paul Leibe
Marietta, played by Deborah Thurlow, is disguised as the Rafaelo, the son of marionette master Rudolfo, played by Brian Pettey. The singers are part of the cast in ‘‘Naughty Marietta,” the Light Opera Company of Southern Maryland’s production of Victor Herbert’s comedic musical.
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Whether you heard ‘‘Ah! Sweet mystery of life, at last I’ve found you” in the 1935 musical, ‘‘Naughty Marietta,” or in the 1974 comedy, ‘‘Young Frankenstein” — both Hollywood blockbusters of their time — the song is an enduring work of lyric art by composer Victor Herbert.
Looking like Mary Martin and singing like the famed soprano of stage and screen, Deborah Thurlow brings to life the unfettered personality of an 18th-century Italian noblewoman on the loose in New Orleans.
The Light Opera Company of Southern Maryland will present Herbert’s celebrated ‘‘Naughty Marietta,” made famous by his score, the libretto of Rida Johnson Young and the 1935 film appearances of the legendary duo, in two performances at Huntingtown High School.
In the story, Marietta, the Contessa d’Altena, has run away from a French convent to avoid her arranged marriage to Don Carlos, a doddering member of Italian nobility. Determined not to participate in the farce, Marie changes places with her maid and becomes one of the Casquette Maids — single women who have agreed to wed in the wild for a dowry. Once aboard ship, they are heading for the New World and marriage to the many men who have settled the French territories, especially in ‘‘Little Paree” — now known as New Orleans.
Thurlow plays opposite tenor James Bowser, who sings the role of the heroic Capt. Richard ‘‘Dick” Warrington of the United States Rangers.
He and his gallant crew, notably sidekick Simon O’Hara, played by Stephen Stokes — who will make his fortune soon, he frequently states — are seeking permission from the governor to search for the infamous and daring pirate, Bras Pique, a rogue known to frequent the bayous and shores.
The Rangers have rescued the maids from the brazen pirate king and his men who captured the French ship and were making off with the goods when Warrington’s men intervened. Most of the maidens were very grateful, but not the contessa, who has taken her maid’s name, Marietta Franini. The two spar throughout the performance as much as the pirates and Rangers would.
And as Marietta, the princess blends in with the other young women who have been given a small chest containing their dowry, the King of France’s ‘‘gift” to a successful suitor.
What follows is everything one might expect of a classic musical comedy, complete with glamorous costumes and a pit orchestra.
The operetta contains more recognizable songs than one might expect from such a classic score. As company director Sandra Jarrett explained, the songs were one of the reasons she picked the show for their third season.
‘‘It’s very hum-able, sing-able and people remember it from generations to generations,” she said. That follows what the opera company seems to have in mind for its productions.
The first year’s performance was a shortened version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘‘The Pirates of Penzance,” another light and very zany operetta. Last year, the company performed Franz Lehar’s ‘‘The Merry Widow,” yet another gay piece of operatic fluff, this time with a complete orchestra made up of local performers.
Like nearly all of the other area performance troupes, shows are produced as a result of much networking.
‘‘Three of the musicians live in my community at Scientist Cliffs, the rest are local players who like to work,” Jarrett said. ‘‘They’re professionals who are actually working elsewhere and during the summer working as musicians in orchestras. It’s a network of people who know people who know people.”
The same can be said for the singers.
‘‘Debbie’s a friend of mine, and I buy all my sheet music from her at her store, the Musical Source in Washington, D.C. We got to be friends and when I needed a singer for last year, I asked her. She also teaches voice at Columbia Union College,” she said.
Bowser, the chorus director at Leonardtown High School, was someone Jarrett met through the public schools.
‘‘Two years ago he was supposed to be the major general in ‘Pirates,’ but that didn’t work out, and last year he got married,” Jarrett said. ‘‘This year on his first anniversary, he was on stage singing.”
The rest of cast is equally dedicated and made up of performers who range in experience from those still working on undergraduate degrees while fully employed in their fields to those who have long finished their doctorates.
I hadn’t thought about the songs, but Saturday night’s final dress rehearsal before the opening performance at St. Mary’s Ryken High School reminded me of those with which I was very familiar from a variety of sources — and ‘‘Young Frankenstein” was not the first source that came to mind.
In addition to ‘‘Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life,” the audience will no doubt recognize ‘‘I’m Falling in Love With Someone,” ‘‘‘Neath the Southern Moon,” ‘‘Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!” and the ‘‘Italian Street Song,” long a staple in elementary school music songbooks.
Future plans include a possible traveling production of ‘‘Hansel and Gretel” during the school year and Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘‘The Mikado” as next year’s production.
Whether you saw the stage debut in 1910, sat in the movie theaters in 1935 or have seen it on and off Broadway over the years, Herbert’s score continues to draw on the magic of truly lyrical singing and romance with voices made of satin and silk.
So, does the hero get the girl? Does the pirate mend his ways? Can true love be found in ‘‘Little Paree”? Only you will know when the curtain rises on ‘‘Naughty Marietta,” a musical with love at its heart.
